Tissue engineering is a growing field that seeks to combine cellular, molecular, technological and medical advances to create replacement tissues suitable for implantation and laboratory study. Promising work has been done on a variety of tissues, including blood vessels, urinary bladder, heart valves, and cardiac tissue (Nichols et al, 2008, Proc Am Thor Soc 5:723-30; Satchell et al., 2004, J Am Soc Nephrol 15:566-74; Atala et al., 2006, Lancet 367:1241-6; Orfanos et al., 2004, Intensive Care Med 30:1702-14). However, lung is a difficult tissue to engineer in the laboratory. Lung requires a complex matrix that can withstand the mechanical pressures of breathing, that can support the growth of endothelial, epithelial and mesenchymal cells, and that provides a means for gas exchange between two very different yet intimately juxtaposed compartments. Further, the engineering of a large-mammal lung, including a human lung, is hampered by the large size of the organ. Difficulties in the effective culture of a human-scale lung include providing an adequate sterile environment and providing structural support of a large and unwieldy organ. Further, the costs of providing culture media to such a large tissue can be preventative.
Thus, there is a need in the art for the development of a bioreactor system for the culture of large-mammal lung tissue. The present invention satisfies this need in the art.